College teams line-up incoming classes

Ohio State received signatures from 23 prospects Wednesday in a blue-chip haul coach Urban Meyer is counting on to leave an early impression this fall.

Meyer called it his best class yet at OSU — the first two were also ranked among the top-five nationally — even admitting he hoped the Buckeyes would finish atop the recruiting rankings. They settled for No. 3, according to the major scouting services. READ MORE.

They acquired a 16-year-old brainiac, the son of an iconic figure in Ohio, and a tight end once coveted by powers from one end of the country to the other.

What the University of Toledo did not do Wednesday on national signing day is announce the Mid-American Conference’s top class. That mythological title went to Western Michigan, ripping the Rockets off their almost annual title as the league’s recruiting king.

Coach Matt Campbell was dejected, his head slumped as if he’d just suffered a rivalry loss. OK, maybe not. READ MORE.

By 11 a.m. Wednesday morning, the Michigan football program officially received national letters of intent from the 16 players in its 2014 class of incoming freshmen.

It’s one of UM’s smallest incoming classes as of late and Wolverines coach Brady Hoke discussed the recruiting class on national signing day. NCAA rules prohibit coaches from commenting on recruits until the program has received a signed letter of intent from a recruit.

“As you go through the process and through evaluations, you’ve got to be sure,” Hoke said. “You’ve got to be right. What we’ve done, when you look at our needs for the next year or for two years from now, the numbers we used and how we came up with it fits what we wanted to do.” READ MORE.

When talking about the 2014 recruiting class for the Bowling Green State University football team Wednesday, new coach Dino Babers quickly gave credit to those who put it together.

“We need to make sure we give credit where credit is due, and the majority of this class was recruited by coach [Dave] Clawson and his staff,” said Babers, tipping his cap to the coach he replaced.

Credit also goes, to a degree, to the players themselves. Many of them had committed to the school before Clawson left in December to become the coach at Wake Forest. Babers said Twitter and Facebook played a role in keeping the group together. READ MORE.

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